Talk Like Shakespeare Day

To be or not to be a fun day, that is the question. Have some fun tomorrow because it is William Shakespeare's 447th birthday on April 23, 2011, Talk Like Shakespeare Day is a day on which all citizens are encouraged to express their inner thespian, incorporating Shakespearean lines into everyday conversation. It was started in 2009 in Chicago. Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. . .  Make someone smile.

Bacon Lovers Food

Easter or not, what goes better with eggs than bacon. You know you like it. In fact, you love it. Here is something called the Bacon Explosion. Only 5,000 calories per log.

It is made of Kansas City style sauce rubbed Italian sausage, smoked slowly over hickory and oak wood and stuffed with bacon, then wrapped in bacon. There are variations, such as Jalapeño or Cheese. All are served on a big hot dog bun. For desert, you can have some chunks of crispy chocolate covered bacon in maple syrup ice cream.  If you don't want to make your own, you can buy online at this LINK. Mmmm!

Google Body

Google Body is a detailed 3D model of the human body. You can peel back anatomical layers, zoom in, click to identify anatomy, or search for muscles, organs, bones and more.    LINK

Airplane Facts

95% of people involved in airplane crashes do survive.
Popular Mechanics reviewed data of every commercial crash between 1971 and 2005 and discovered that those sitting in the tail had a 40% higher chance of survival.
Your blood alcohol level doesn't actually change when in the air. The difference is that you might feel drunker because of lower quantities of oxygen and a pressurized cabin.
Cell phones do not harm instruments, Federal Communications Commission bans them from planes, because when used in the air they can bounce along many towers on the ground and stop other calls from going out. Some airlines in Europe are now allowing the use of cell phones in the cabin.

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute concluded that driving is far more dangerous than flying. According to their calculations, driving the equivalent distance of a flight poses a 65 times higher injury risk than flying in a commercial airplane.
There has actually been a 65% jump in the number of birds hitting engines, and it is an immediate and great concern for the Federal Aviation Administration. Engines can only handle birds that are about 4 lbs,

Alamo and Red Baron

This week In 1836, Texas forces under Sam Houston with the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" defeated the army of Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at San Jacinto, Texas, opening the path to Texas independence.

This week in 1918, German World War I flying ace, Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," was killed by Allied fire over Vaux-sur-Somme, France.

Historic Panoramas

For the history buffs in the crowd, this site has some great shots of historic sites. LINK  

Sites include things like Daniel Boone's gravesite, Davy Crockett's childhood home, Abraham Lincoln sites, Appomattox, where the end of Civil War papers were signed, etc. Interesting stuff.

Records

Feels more like Thanksgiving to me than Easter as I look at the numbers. As of a few weeks ago I had over 10,000 site visits to this Shubsthoughts blog, where my Friday Thoughts get posted. In webdom, that is not much, in fact some sites get that many visits a day, and some biggies, per hour.

Next week we pass another record as the total number of posts reaches 1,500. It makes me feel good that some of you think my musings are worth a look. As an aside, it also has been good for sales of my books. Thanks a lot! Hope I can continue to amuse, entertain, or at least provide a break from the daily tedium.

Smart Billboards

Technology can sometimes be too smart. Digital billboards that display different ads depending on who is looking at them came from a movie. Now they are real and might change the game of advertising in a serious way. These billboards are like big targeted ads that we see on the internet when we go to certain sites.

Software combines video analytics with environmental factors and Twitter and Foursquare information to decide the best ad to display at that moment. If a young man is looking at an ad, for instance, the billboard will know to show an aftershave ad instead of a tampon ad. If Twitter or Foursquare data indicate that there’s a sports game going on in the area, it might show a Nike ad instead of a FedEx ad.

Many digital billboards already have web cams that can determine the relative age and gender of people who are looking at them, as well as how long each person stands in front of them or looks directly at them. Advertisers use them to gauge the effectiveness of ads and decide which ads to post in what areas.

The newest technology instantly changes a billboard ad based on the video identification of the person and other environmental information. The software learns what works and improves over time. A store in Boulder ran a test and found target ads resulted in a 60% improvement, as measured by time that people looked at the ads.

You might remember the scene in Minority Report when ads change to target the people who are walking past them. This is almost the same thing. Although these change the ads for you, they do not collect information about you. Of course they could in the future. Might be fun to stand around and watch what billboards think of the people standing in front of them.

Eight Interesting Jobs You Don't think About

Think your job is boring? Here are a few interesting jobs you might consider if you are looking for a career change. These are real jobs, with listings on the internet. I won't give details, because they are mostly self explanatory. If you are interested, Google for job descriptions. Cheese sprayer, hair boiler, professional whistler, bird crap cleaner, ostrich babysitter, dog food tester, airplane repossessor, and gum buster. Gum busters clean up gum stuck on roads, benches, etc.

Keep it Healthy

Someone thinks these are healthy.

Happy Friday

Before you quit - Try.
Before you hurt - Feel. 
Before you hate - Love.

I always try to feel the love of a Happy Friday!

What's in a Name

Zappos was originally named ShoeSite.com when it was founded in 1999. When it wanted to start selling more than just shoes the team decided on a variation of the word “shoes” in Spanish. Thus “zapatos” was converted to Zappos for the company name. Still free shipping from Zappos and outstanding customer service.

Photography

Louis Jacques Daguerre was close to becoming the first person to develop a practical process for producing photographs in the early 1800s. He figured out how to expose an image onto highly polished plates covered with silver iodide, a substance known to be sensitive to light. The images he was producing on these polished plates were barely visible, and he didn’t know how to make them darker.

After producing yet another disappointing image one day, Daguerre tossed the silverized plate in his chemical cabinet, intending to clean it off later. But when he went back a few days later, the image had darkened to the point where it was perfectly visible. Daguerre realized that one of the chemicals in the cabinet had somehow reacted with the silver iodide, but he had no way of know which one it was. Below is him in a colorized daguerreotype.

For weeks, Daguerre took one chemical out of the cabinet every day and put it in with a newly exposed plate. But every day, he found a less-than-satisfactory image. Finally, as he was testing the last chemical, he got the idea to put the plate in the now-empty cabinet, as he had done the first time. Sure enough, the image on the plate darkened. Daguerre carefully examined the shelves of the cabinet and found what he was looking for. Weeks earlier, a thermometer in the cabinet had broken and left a few drops of mercury on the shelf. it was the mercury vapor interacting with the silver iodide that produced the darker image. Daguerre incorporated mercury vapor into his process, and the Daguerreotype photograph was born.

Easter Painting

This is the time of the year to share this one, although it would be as beautiful anytime, even for the non-religious. LINK   It is a portrait of the Resurrection, painted in larger than life size (12  by 40 feet) The artist, Ron DiCianni, tells how and why he did it. BTW it was unveiled last year in the museum of biblical art Dallas. His works have sold in the millions when made into prints. Enjoy!